darstep

With all of these high-end offensive contract negotiation and off the field issues, will Spagnuolo be expected to perform miracles with a rag-tag defense? After Brees, Colston, Nicks, will there be any dollars left for him to build a quality product that we can be proud of?

If, for whatever reason, we end up having to out score our opponent every week, I'm already prepared to give him a pass. Colton is done; Nicks and Brees are still hanging, along with a host of other FA contributors that could affect our continuity. I've got great respect for Spags abilitites, but he may end up with the same kind of "bend and don't break" middle of the road defense that GWilliams had to get creative with to have ANY kind of success at all. Maybe he can get the tackling grade up to about a B+. That should get us two games throughout the season.

I hope he is eyeing a few FA pieces that can come in and do some of the things he is visioning for this squad. Fundamentals are free, and avoiding self inflicted wounds can go a long way to positioning this new defense for success, whatever it ends up looking like. It would be a wonderful thing to see a 1st year pop in the defensive performance under his leadership. If it doesn't work out so well, here's my get out of jail free card, but it's the only one I've got.

**SaintSince67**